In Your Hands
by SlytherinBlaide
Summary: Being a ninja is hard. Being in love is harder. Neji loves Tenten, but how is he supposed to tell her with Naruto and everyone else breathing down his neck? Turns out that telling Tenten how he feels is going to be an A ranked mission! rating may change.
1. Undecided Feelings and Day Out to Lunch

Disclaimer: Alright I confess…...I _do_ own the Naruto characters! cowers away as tons of lawyers with angry faces surround me Alright! I'll say it.

Me: I mumble mumble

Lawyers: What?

Me: I grumble grumble

Lawyers: A little louder

Me: I DO NOT OWN THE NARUTO CHARACTERS! THEY BELONG TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO! There happy!?

Lawyers: Yes.

A/N: Alright now this is my first story and I am welcoming flames. Now, I tend to talk a LOT so if I start talking to much plz tell me and I'll try not (not making promises) to keep the talking to a minimum. I know there was something else I had to say now what was it……….hm oh well maybe I'll remember soon… until then, though, toddles.

Couples:

Neji/ TenTen (of course)

Naruto/ Hinata

Sasuke/ Sakura

Shikamaru/ Temari

And MAYBE Lee/ Ino (but I think I'll just leave them plain there's nothing wrong with that. tell me your opinion on this couple)

For those of you who don't already know:

"blah blah blah" talking

'_blah blah blah' _ thinking/flashback

IMPORTANT A/N: Sasuke may be a little O/C so don't freak out if he does anything strange and the chuinin exams are already over but I'm not giving any spoilers so they're over but everythings still the same Tsunade-sama is the new 5th hokage and that's the ONLY spoiler!

**In Your Hands**

**Chapter 1- Undecided Feelings and a Day Out to Lunch**

It was early in the morning and the sun was just now beginning to show over the tops of the trees, but the two teenage ninjas were too distracted to notice.

"You've improved." Neji said while leaping into the air. He and TenTen were having their usual morning spar and had been battling for the past two hours, and neither of them was showing any signs of defeat.

"So have you." She replied, tossing two shuriken at him which he easily dodged making them hit the tree he was standing behind. He gave an amused smirk before leaping onto a tree branch. TenTen smirked as well and jumped in after him.

Up in the trees Neji was always a branch above TenTen, but all he had time to do was dodge the kunai and shuriken that she was pelting at him. _'Damn! Doesn't she ever run out of those things?! I mean where does she keep them all?'_

"You're getting distracted Neji, I can tell, why don't you just admit defeat?" She knew he definitely wouldn't give up now, he had way to much pride. Even if he had been considering making it a draw, after that comment any thought of letting her win was out of the question.

Once Neji had gotten to one of the highest branches he was ready to dodge any attack she threw at him. However, instead of throwing another weapon she jumped up on the same branch as him and raised her fists, "Gotcha." (a/n: Gotcha Got ya) She was just about ready to land a punch when a loud crack echoed through the forest and just like that the branch under them snapped and sent them tumbling to the ground. Neji landed hard on his back and TenTen landed on Neji, but it didn't pain her that much-I mean after all she had something to break her fall. Neji now recovering from _two _harsh landings finally looked at the position they were in: TenTen was on top of him with both of her hands resting on his chest and their faces were just inches apart. Finally, after a long awkward silence TenTen stated moving her face closer and closer to Neji's.

"If you guys are going to kiss then do it already! I've been sitting here for the past five minutes and all you've done is move in slow motion!" Rock Lee jumped out from behind a bush and pointed an accusing finger at them.

"Lee! What are you doing here?-umph!" TenTen said as Neji shoved her off him and stood up.

"Lee, you better have a good reason for coming here." Neji's voice was calm but if you were one of the people that really knew him then you'd be able to tell how agitated he was.

Lee stared off into space and put his hand on his chin, "Why _did _I come here?" There was a long awkward silence as everyone waited for him to talk. "Oh yeah! Your not gonna believe what Gai-sensei told me this morning! He said that if I train hard and practice, that someday I could become his apprentice! Just imagine, to be able to fight by the amazing Gai-sensei as an _equal_!" The two ninja just glared at their companion who already had tears streaming down his cheeks.

"That's _it_." Neji said, he was clearly annoyed. "That's all you had to say."

"Yep! No wait, no- I mean yes- no- ummmmmmm." Lee looked up at his teammates and saw a scary 'I can't believe you interrupted a good moment for just _that_' look in their eyes- it kind of frightened him. "Oh wait, TenTen, your supposed to come eat lunch with me, Naruto, Sasuke, and the others, remember." TenTen's face lightened up a little- he was right, and she inwardly groaned about it. _'I can't believe this! How could I have forgotten? I was this close-THIS CLOSE to being able to kiss Neji! gasp I've got it!_

"Hey Neji, do you want to come eat lunch with me and Lee?" she asked hopefully.

Neji thought it over for a few minutes and then decided- hey, what the hell, "I've got nothing better to do." TenTen was not very good at hiding the fact that she was overjoyed that he would be joining them. "That's great! Come on let's get going then!"

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The three of them soon arrived at none other than Naruto's favorite ramen: the Ichiraku Ramen Bar. They walked in and looked over to see Naruto downing his sixth bowl of ramen. "Sorry," Sakura said walking up to them and leading them towards a large table where they saw Sasuke, Ino, Hinata, Temari, and Shikamaru already waiting for them. "We tried to get him to wait but he insisted that you wouldn't mind." TenTen stifled a laugh, however, Neji seemed to be uptight about something.

"Well I can't help it if I love Ramen." Naruto protested. "But boy do I feel sorry for the guy who has to pay this bill."

"That would be you, Naruto." Sakura told him.

"What! You can't possibly expect me to pay for all this."

"You should've thought of that before you decided to stuff your face with _six_ bowls of ramen!"

"Come on Sakura, be reasonable!"

"No!"

"What morons." Sasuke said in calmly annoyed tone. Neji clenched his fists and stood up making everybody stop talking and stare at him as he walked out the door.

"What bit his ass?" Ino said she had never really been a huge Neji fan ever since that day in the woods during the second half of the chunin exams when he told her she was ugly.

"Who knows, I'll go talk to him." Naruto said hastily and rushed out the door.

"I wonder what's gotten into him." Sakura said.

"Here is your bill ma'am."

"NARUTO!!!!!!!!!"

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Neji walked over and sat down by a tree. Everything was so confusing he didn't know what to do. "Hey buddy, what's up?" Naruto asked casually walking up beside him. Neji just answered with a grunt.

"Is there something on your mind?" he pressed.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Neji answered.

"So, is it training?"

"No."

"A mission?"

"No."

"A girl?"

"…Yes."

"Is it….Ino?"

"_No_."

"Sakura?"

"No."

"Hinata?"

"No."

"Tsunade-sama?"

"No."

"Is it Sasuke?"

"Sasuke's a _boy_."

"Ah! I've got it! Is it TenTen?"

"…Yeah…"

"So, what about her?"

"It's hard to explain I-"

"Naruto! Get your ass in here and pay this bill!" Sakura's voice screamed.

"But Sakura, I-"

"Now!" and with that she grabbed him by the ear and pulled him into ramen shop.

Neji sighed. He was actually half glad that Naruto was gone; he was no where _near_ ready to tell anyone how he felt about TenTen. He sighed once more and then stood up to go join the others when Sasuke up stepped up beside him.

"You know you should really tell her." He said like he was talking about the weather or something everyday like that.

"Wha-" This was the strangest day in Neji's life.

"All I'm saying is that you should take her before someone else gets her."

Neji just stared ahead.

"I mean, I would fuck her any day- if you know what I mean." And as soon as he was finished talking he walked back inside.

Neji was stunned but soon recovered and followed his friend inside. He couldn't figure out if today was either a really good day or a _really_ bad one.

A/n: Well, That's all for now! I hope ya liked it! I'll update as soon as I can. Anyway, till then…


	2. House Guests Can be a Pain

Disclaimer: I DO NOT (I wish I did) but sadly DO NOT! Own Naruto in any way, shape, or form! I know it sucks doesn't it.

Lawyers: Thank you for cooperating this time.

Me: Yeah, yeah whatever just get out of my house. And you! (points finger at Naruto who's going through all my food looking for some ramen) Go sit back on the couch!

Naruto: But I'm hungry!

Me: Well, you can wait, I'm busy right now. Now, on with the chapter! Oh yeah, Sasuke is still very OC and he probably will be through the entire story, so don't freak out…I have warned you. 

**In Your Hands**

**Chapter 2- House Guests Can be a Pain**

Neji folded his hands and stared out at the pink and orange sunset. He had left the ramen shop a little bit earlier than everyone else, since he had way too much on his mind to have any kind of appetite. Now, he just sat and stared at the sunset and his face that was reflected in the pond. _'Dammit! I can't even stop thinking about her. Why, does TenTen have to be so…so…?' _His thoughts were cut short as he heard Hinata coming through the front door.

"We'll decide who will sleep in the bed and who will sleep on the floor later, right now let's just go upstairs for awhile." He heard her say.

_'Who is she talking to?' _Neji asked himself.

However, his question was soon answered. "That sounds good to me, Hinata." Sakura replied.

"Yeah, me too." Ino added as three two girls walked by and gave him a friendly wave. Neji let out a relieved sigh.

_'Good, it's just Sakura and Ino. I thought that she might have invited…' _Once again Neji's thoughts were cut short by Ino and Sakura.

"TenTen, hurry up!" Sakura yelled down the hall.

"Yeah, don't be so slow!" Ino teased.

"I'm coming you guys, wait up!" TenTen shouted back running to catch up. She stopped when she saw Neji and gave him a smile. "Neji, hey."

He didn't know what to say, all the words just got tangled up in his mouth and he couldn't speak. TenTen glanced around nervously and she turned a light shade of pink. "So, um, I have to go. Um, see ya." Neji listened to her run down the hallway until he heard the door to Hinata's room slam shut. Then, it was silent, just him and his reflection.

_'I'm such an idiot!' _He cursed. _'Why did I freeze up like that? Well, it's not my fault. It's hers for coming here in the first place and Hinata's for even inviting her!' _He quickly stood up and stomped off to his room, where he spent the rest of the day arguing with himself about TenTen.

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"TenTen," Ino said. "Why do you spar with Neji every morning?"  
"So, I can be better than him of course!" She blurted out proudly.

"Come on, it must be more than that." Sakura insisted.

"You do spend a lot of time with him." Hinata put in.

"Maybe I _like_ spending time with Neji." TenTen confessed. "Ino, Sakura, why do you follow Sasuke around when it's obvious that he doesn't like either of you and that you're just annoying him, and Hinata, why do pursue Naruto even when he so desperately stalks Sakura."

Ino and Sakura exchanged looks while Hinata just stared at the ground and twiddled her thumbs.

"Well, you don't have to be rude about it." Ino retorted putting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, at least we're honest about our feelings!" Sakura fussed. TenTen lowered her voice and calmed down a little.

"Sorry." She admitted.

"At least you've realized how you really feel about Neji." Ino cheered.

"Don't worry, we won't tell." Hinata giggled.

"Let's eat. I'm starving!" Sakura suggested as all four girls headed downstairs towards the kitchen.

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Neji lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. _'I'm starving,' _he thought as his stomach once again began growling. He sat up in his bed and stared out the window for a while before finally getting up and walking down to the kitchen.

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When Neji reached the kitchen he had to hold back a grin at the sight of Ino, Sakura, Hinata, and TenTen throwing an entire box of Coco Crispies at each other. As he walked into the room he was immediately hit in the head with the chocolaty cereal by Hinata who had been aiming to through it at Sakura. The room grew quiet as the four girls stared at him silently, only did they finally crack up laughing after he had given a small chuckle of amusement.

As Neji began brushing the flakes out of his hair the kitchen turned mute again as TenTen began to come towards him. She stood on her tip-toes so that she could reach the top of his head and brushed off some of the Coco Crispies that were still caught in his long brown hair. His face must have been beat red, for since she was standing on her toes her breasts were merely an inch from his face.

Just when he thought that he couldn't take it anymore, TenTen lowered herself to her regular height and whispered gently into his ear, "You missed some." For a long time they just stood there, TenTen staring at Neji, Neji staring at TenTen, and everybody else staring at them staring at each other.

"Looks like I got here just in time for the action." A voice said from the doorway.

Neji broke out of his trance and looked toward the kitchen entrance to see none other than Sasuke leaning with his arms crossed against the door frame. "Sasuke!" Ino shouted with joy, but was shot down by an annoyed glance.

"Hey, Sasuke," TenTen said while Hinata merely nodded a 'hello', and Sasuke nodded and smiled back to them.

"How did you get in my house?" Neji asked staring at him.

Sasuke gave him a serious look and replied, "I came in through your window." Neji raised his eyebrows and Sasuke smirked and said, "I came in through the door what do you think?"

Sakura was the only one who hadn't acknowledged his arrival, which was unusually odd considering she was usually the first one. Instead TenTen's words rang through her head. _'Ino, Sakura, why do you follow Sasuke around when it's obvious that he doesn't like either of you and that you're just annoying him…follow Sasuke around…it's obvious…he doesn't like you…you're annoying him…He hates me.' _

"Hey, Sakura." Sasuke said giving her a sexy smirk as she looked up.

"Oh, hi." She replied as Ino gave her a deathly glare. Without another word he followed Neji up the stairs and into his room.

"Maybe he _does _like you," TenTen said to Sakura and Hinata and Ino agreed.

"You think so too, Ino." Sakura asked.

Ino just put her elbow on the table and rested her head on her hand. "Yeah, I thought I would be angry or jealous, but I'm not. I guess I've just grown out of it. I don't like him as much as I used too, besides it's been apparent to me that he's always liked you better."

Sakura gave her a smile. "Thanks, Ino."

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"So, have you told her yet?" Sasuke asked, sitting down on the bed beside Neji.

"No," he answered back. Sasuke gave him a glare. "It's not as easy as it looks!" Neji protested. "When was the last time you told a girl you loved her?" The room was silent as Sasuke seemed to mull the question over. The silence was broken, however, when a deep growl filled the air. Sasuke stared at him.

"Was that your stomach?"

Neji hung his head. "Shit, I forgot to get food."

A/n: Well, that's all for now! I know the story is moving kinda slow but no worries! The next chapter is filled with big news! Although, I will not make any promises that it will have anything to do with relationships! Bye for now.


	3. To Catch a Killer

Disclaimer: I hate doing this every chapter. I mean, will we like get arrested if we don't put a disclaimer on all of our stories? Well, for the sake of avoiding the cops, I _do _own Naruto and all of its characters.

Me: freaks out as a bunch of cops jump out from all over the place You guys, I was _kidding_!

Cops: pull out guns as I sit there laughing

Me: Right, not funny, I lied. I don't own Naruto… again. Anyways, I have a hard time thinking of chapter titles for this story, but not for my other one. By the way, I have another story on it's called _Tragedies of the Heart _it's pretty good in my opinion and you guys should definitely read it. The link for it is in my profile.

Again:

"Blah blah blah" talking

'_Blah blah blah' thinking _

**In Your Hands**

**Chapter Three- To Catch a Killer**

_Hyuga Neji,_

_I, the 5__th__ Hokage, have chosen you as well a handful of others to take part in a top-secret mission, the likes of which I can not discuss in this letter. I expect you to report to my office by 12:30 sharp. You will be told the specs of the mission as well as whom your companions will be at that point in time. Do not be late._

_Tsunade._

Neji stared at the letter, _'She sure is blunt.' _He read twice more over just to make sure that he understood everything that the letter was saying and then, finally satisfied, looked up at the front entrance to the building where he would meet his knew teammates.

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Neji walked swiftly into the Hokage's office and was surprised to see Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Lee, Choji, Kiba, Hinata, Shikamaru, Shino, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, and, most pleasantly of all, TenTen. His gaze was distracted; however, by Tsunade's harsh voice "You're late."

"What? It's 12:30 right now. How can I be late?" He argued.

"Check the clock again." Tsunade retaliated. "It's 25 seconds _past_ 12:30. If I had wanted you here at 12:30:25 I would have put that time down instead of 12:30, but that is an issue best addressed later, now is not the time for such arguments." As soon as her back had turned Neji rolled his eyes at her and glanced over at TenTen who merely shrugged her shoulders and gave him a 'hey-what-can-you-do' kind of look. "TenTen shoulders lowered, get that look off your face, and Neji focus your attention to something other than your current infatuation, and unroll those eyes before I do it for you." T sundae spoke up. "Now, everyone gather around so that we can view the specs of your new mission. I don't repeat myself so listen up."

They all gathered around Tsunade's desk and watched as she pulled out a portfolio of some sort. She opened it to reveal a picture of a man no older then 17 with navy blue hair, gold eyes, red triangles under his eyes pointing down, and a maniacal smirk plastered onto his face, underneath his pictures were a bunch of papers ranging from his personal interests to his medical records to a list crimes he had been accused of. The 15 ninja took time to memorize every aspect of his face and any other physical features that may help them to identify this man.

"Name, Addrock Kumatri; Age, 17; Date of birth, August 14th; Hair color, Navy blue; Eye color, gold; Most distinguishing feature, upside down red triangles under both eyes; Village, Mist; Status, Rogue ninja." Tsunade read one of the papers. "This man betrayed his village two years ago by selling information to an enemy village resulting in the death of 1/3 of the village's civilians. Since then, he has been suspected of being the killer of his own sister, raping women aging from 12-30, selling confidential information to other villages, and having secret ties with Orochimaru. Do _not _underestimate this guy!" She emphasized, slamming her fist onto the table. "Ino, Sakura, Temari, Hinata, TenTen… I worry for you the most. Addrock likes his women young and he is ruthless beyond compare." The guys glanced at each other concerned and shifted in their standing positions.

"As you just heard, he has been _suspected _for many crimes, some of them unthinkable, however, the key word in this is _suspected_. He is very cunning and smart for his age, and therefore has never been able to be proven of these accusations. The council and judges know he is guilty, but, without evidence, it's against the law for us to arrest him. That's why we need you," she looked up at them. "We need you to follow him, pursue him, and catch him in the act so that we can finally take some action. Sources report that he will most likely be at Shukomi Resort, rumor has it that he will be selling information about the Hidden Leaf Village and the Sand Village to Orochimaru, so that he can use it to attack both villages until they are completely obliterated or are forced to surrender and join as his ally. I have arranged 7 rooms for you. The following are your assigned accommodations: room 523, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzamaki Naruto; room 524, Inuzuka Kiba and Nara Shikamaru; room 525, Akimichi Choji and Aburame Shino; room 526, Kankuro and Rock Lee; room 527, Hyuga Neji and Gaara; room 528, TenTen and Hyuga Hinata; and finally, room 529, Yamanaka Ino, Temari, and Haruno Sakura."

The room was filled with an awkward silence. Sasuke's eye was twitching, Naruto was holding his hand up as if to say something but couldn't get the words out, Choji was staring creepily at Shino while slowly inching away, Kankuro was giving an enthusiastic Lee a murderous glare, Ino looked like she was about to cry, Temari had slapped her hand to her forehead and let out a groan, and Sakura had dropped to her knees in mortification. "Can we switch?!" Naruto blurted out.

Temari's head shot up, "Please!"

"Sensei," Ino began to plead. "If you have any heart at all you won't put me in a room with _them_."

"I think that these accommodations are most acceptable!!" Lee shouted.

"Somebody shoot me." Kankuro muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Tsu… Tsunade-sensei," Choji started. "I'm a-afraid of b-b-bugs…"

Shino glanced over Choji, making him flinch.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru sighed.

"If it makes any difference Sensei, I'm fine with my roommate." Kiba said.

"I could care less." Neji added.

"Agreed." Gaara confirmed.

"Unbelievable." Sakura whispered.

"Sensei!" Naruto started again. "Please, there is no way I can say in a room with this guy! Believe it! We'll kill each other before the first five minutes!"

"Naruto shut up, you're so annoying." Sasuke said in a monotone voice.

The room erupted into a frenzy of shouts and complaints.

"Enough!" Tsunade yelled slamming her fist onto the table. "Your roommates are exactly as I told you: there will be no switches, modifications, adjustments, or anything along those lines. The mission starts tomorrow, be at the front gates by dawn, _not_, she glared at Neji, 25 seconds _after _dawn. The 15 of you had better learn how to work as a team, if you don't you'll fail, if you don't you'll die. Dismissed." Everyone left the room without a word, afraid that if they did speak there would have been hell to pay.

"God, someone's PMSing." Kankuro mumbled under his breath.

"Tell me about it." Shikamaru replied.

"OW!!!" They both shouted as two rocks came flying out of the Hokage's window smacking them both in the back of the head, everyone else began laughing. This mission was apparently going to have to have more goals than one, the only question was: Which would be harder, getting along or getting the mission done?

A/N: Well, there you go! Sorry it took so long I went to the beach, started a new story, the list goes on! I've been busy. I'll try and update as soon as I can but I'm not promising a date. I would tell you the name for the next chapter, but sadly, I don't even know it yet. So yeah, by for now! Read my other story!


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